It appears that like everything for this pregnancy, this delivery is going to take a little extra time and effort. Progress is being made but it's slow. Things could kick in high-gear tonight or tomorrow, but nothing is going to happen right away. We're reluctantly bracing for a long night. The bed Melissa is in now if for labor and delivery and is much harder than the bed she was in on the antepartum floor. So her hips are extremely uncomfortable but like everything else Melissa is handling it like a trooper. She just received a massage and I was given a few techniques to give to Melissa to help her feel more comfortable.
One of the weird things for us is that all of the little "bad" indicators in the antepartum unit are now "good" indicators. We're suddenly encouraging contractions among so many other things now. We're actually rooting for bigger, longer and more intense contractions because that means we're that much closer to the finish line.
While we're very excited to great Bea in the outer world and start our life together, we made further preparations for handling the delivery of Elsa. We're coordinating her cremation and my personal feelings for Elsa were the strongest yesterday that they've been since Cincinnati. Melissa said it's somewhat similar to what we went through in Cincinnati where we preparing to celebrate a lot of happiness with a bright future with Bea while feeling sorrow for Elsa. I feel a little bitter about that because it would be really nice for Melissa and I to embrace 100% happiness and I feel bad for Bea that we're going to have a little bit of sorrow mixed in with her greetings when she arrives. I feel the need to respect Elsa and her great contribution and can't ignore her entirely either. It's an awkward little balancing act. Today there's overall more excitement and happiness for me. The anxiety is a little less, and I think it is for Melissa too. We're currently looking forward to more intense labor and our little daughter, however I suspect some not so happy moments surfacing for Melissa and I'm readying myself for whatever temporary emotions may emerge from her. Being a guy can be pretty cool sometimes. However the massage therapist was sharing with Melissa how her delivery was the most special day of her life and how she felt so many amazing emotions and feelings throughout labor, so there's a little (and I mean little right now) sense of regret I can't experience that and join that club.
Friday, April 6, 2007
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Waiting for tomorrow
Things weren't starting up real quickly today, so the drugs have been turned off for the day. They're prepping Melissa to get ready to start up again tomorrow morning. We'll see what and who tomorrow brings.
Induction Begins
They've started giving Melissa induction drugs. She was moved from her old room into a room on a birthing wing at 7 am. So her old telephone number doesn't work.
The doctors indicated that nothing will happen for a while, a quick afternoon delivery is unlikely. It's more likely things could go on for a day or two before delivery. If at 5 pm she isn't into active labor, they might shut off the drugs for the night and start again tomorrow morning. So this phase of waiting continues. They won't give her any intensive induction drugs as they're in no rush, so they're giving her milder drugs that react more slowly.
Maybe the most unusal and shocking thing this morning was seeing Melissa out of her room! Eight weeks in the same place. That was much more shocking to me than the fact that we're going to try to start labor and Bea's going to come out soon. That reality is just now slowly beginning and the waiting is going to be pretty annoying.
Melissa didn't sleep well last night, so I didn't either. She took some sleep pills at 3 am and was able to get a few hours of sleep before they transferred her into a new room/floor. She's still groggy so she's trying to get a little more sleep if she can.
More action packed suspense and drama to follow.
The doctors indicated that nothing will happen for a while, a quick afternoon delivery is unlikely. It's more likely things could go on for a day or two before delivery. If at 5 pm she isn't into active labor, they might shut off the drugs for the night and start again tomorrow morning. So this phase of waiting continues. They won't give her any intensive induction drugs as they're in no rush, so they're giving her milder drugs that react more slowly.
Maybe the most unusal and shocking thing this morning was seeing Melissa out of her room! Eight weeks in the same place. That was much more shocking to me than the fact that we're going to try to start labor and Bea's going to come out soon. That reality is just now slowly beginning and the waiting is going to be pretty annoying.
Melissa didn't sleep well last night, so I didn't either. She took some sleep pills at 3 am and was able to get a few hours of sleep before they transferred her into a new room/floor. She's still groggy so she's trying to get a little more sleep if she can.
More action packed suspense and drama to follow.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Wednesday Evening Update
Melissa is here writing with me, in possibly her last calm and sound state of mind for a while (and thus mine, too). Pending room in the NICU (just in case Bea needs to go there), Melissa will move rooms tomorrow to the labor and delivery floor - where we started eight weeks ago. They will induce her using several kinds of fancy drugs, if everything looks good for a natural delivery. A natural delivery can take several days especially since this is our first baby and an induction. We will update the blog when we can but no promises.
The doctors were very surprised by how developed Bea's lungs are. She's still pretty little to be born (she's still two months early), but we're all optimistic she'll be a healthy girl. The doctors here have prepared us that Bea may need to go to the NICU for a day or two to get stabilized after birth. We have hopes she'll be in the special care nursery soon if not right after birth. We've already busted the Cincinnati stats. They expected she'd be born at 29 - 30 weeks. So we're feeling pretty good. Matt's feeling better than Melissa because he doesn't have to go into labor.
Please send us your good vibes. Thank you!
The doctors were very surprised by how developed Bea's lungs are. She's still pretty little to be born (she's still two months early), but we're all optimistic she'll be a healthy girl. The doctors here have prepared us that Bea may need to go to the NICU for a day or two to get stabilized after birth. We have hopes she'll be in the special care nursery soon if not right after birth. We've already busted the Cincinnati stats. They expected she'd be born at 29 - 30 weeks. So we're feeling pretty good. Matt's feeling better than Melissa because he doesn't have to go into labor.
Please send us your good vibes. Thank you!
Green Light!
It looks like Bea will be born this week. Today is 32 weeks, hooray! They tested Melissa's amniotic fluid as planned today. The first test was inconclusive but after a second opinion from the U of M they confirmed that Bea's lung development was essentially complete.
We haven't heard confirmation from the doctors from when it'll happen, but based on previous conversations we expect they'll deliver Bea today through Friday. It's our guess it won't be today based on the lateness in the day and the NICU is pretty busy today apparently. So we're thinking tomorrow or Friday they'll assess Melissa for delivery and will induce her or give her a C-section if everything isn't aligned properly.
Lots to do, gotta run. I'll post as able.
Matt
We haven't heard confirmation from the doctors from when it'll happen, but based on previous conversations we expect they'll deliver Bea today through Friday. It's our guess it won't be today based on the lateness in the day and the NICU is pretty busy today apparently. So we're thinking tomorrow or Friday they'll assess Melissa for delivery and will induce her or give her a C-section if everything isn't aligned properly.
Lots to do, gotta run. I'll post as able.
Matt
Monday, April 2, 2007
Monday April 2nd
Melissa and Bea are still moving along. Nothing exciting to report here other then Melissa and Liz got lost in the hospital on their wheel chair ride. They kept running into the same startled little boy and mother which caused Melissa and Liz to start laughing real hard and they immediately passed one of Melissa's primary peri-natal doctors who was in a hurry and did a double take for seeing Melissa in an odd part of the hospital laughing hysterically.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
April 1st
Yesterday Melissa and I were discussing that we didn't think we were going to make it to March. April was long out of the question. Now we know Bea will have an April birthday, but what day? Only time will tell.
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